Mplf newsletter winter16 17

SPRING 2016

Richard Russo to Speak at Lunch for Libraries April 18

IN THIS ISSUE

WINTER 2016/2017 SPRING 2016

Ex Libris Sets Record for Fundraising at $75,000

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo will be the featured author at Madison Public Library Foundation’s sixth annual Lunch for Libraries fundraiser, presented by BMO Harris Bank, on Tuesday, April 18, at noon at Overture Center for the Arts.

Russo won his Pulitzer for the best-seller Empire Falls, which was adapted into an HBO series starring Paul Newman. He’s the author of Nobody’s Fool, made into a film starring Paul Newman and Philip Seymour Hoffman. He recently released the Nobody’s Fool sequel, “Everybody’s Fool,” set 10 years later back in upstate New York with the same flawed but lovable characters and sense of humor. Russo has also written other novels, two collections of stories and the memoir Elsewhere.

“We’re so pleased to host Mr. Russo at Lunch for Libraries this spring,” said foundation Executive Director Jenni Collins. “His masterful storytelling has made his novels favorites of many readers, and he’s sure to be a big hit with those who attend what has become our largest Wisconsin Book Festival fundraiser.”

Individual tickets are $125 and are on sale now at mplfoundation.org. Tables of eight are available for purchase by calling 608.266.6318. Email events@mplfoundation.org to receive ticket information and to learn how you or your business can become a sponsor of this event.

Richard Russo to Headline Lunch for Libraries

Make your year-end gift at mplfoundation.org/donate

Book Festival Draws Notable Authors

EVENTS & HIGHLIGHTS

The widely successful 2016 Wisconsin Book Festival, presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation, drew nearly 10,000 book lovers to Central Library and other downtown venues during the weekend of October 20–23.

Festival-goers enjoyed more than 60 events featuring authors and writers covering many genres. Highlights included appearances by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen; nonfiction writers Cathy O’Neil, Jeff Chang and Andrew Bacevich; and novelists Jane Hamilton and Jennifer Close.

StoryCorps Coming in January

Wisconsin craft beers and local brunch fare from 34 of the area’s top restaurants were again a huge hit at Madison Public Library Foundation’s Ex Libris Vol. VI: Beer for Brunch on November 4. For the first time, guests were able to bid online in an extensive silent auction of rare items and experiences. The auction and a chocolate bar raffle with prizes like ruby and diamond earrings Photos by Shanna Wolf/ from Studio Jewelers S. Photography & Styling helped the event raise $75,000 to support Madison Public Library programs, services and collections. DJ Rob Dz and The Whiskey Farm entertained the audience with music. Next year’s Ex Libris will be October 27, with a new two-year theme.

The festival appreciates the generous support of its sponsors: Madison Public Library Foundation, American Girl’s Fund for Children, Friends of UW-Madison Libraries, UW-Madison Memorial Library, Marvin J. Levy, Nimick Forbesway Foundation, Wisconsin Humanities Council, Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company, Cheryl Rosen Weston, Cricket Design Works, The Edgewater Hotel, Isthmus and Wisconsin Public Radio. Additional support comes from Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, Madison Arts Commission, A Room of One’s Own, UW Center for Humanities, Webcrafters-Frautschi Foundation and Book Fest Benefactors.

To document and celebrate Madison Public Library’s National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has arranged for a StoryCorps visit to Madison Public Library in January. While not a public event, look for stories of your favorite Madisonians, or Madisonians you may not know (yet!) coming soon on StoryCorps.org or madisonpubliclibrary.org.

Executive Director Jennifer J. Collins

Newsletter Editor Amy Mertz

Contributing Writers Liz Berger Tana Elias Carrie Gostomski

MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARIES Alicia Ashman 733 N. High Point Rd. Hawthorne 2707 E. Washington Ave. Lakeview 2845 N. Sherman Ave. Meadowridge 5726 Raymond Rd. Monroe Street 1705 Monroe St. Pinney 204 Cottage Grove Rd. Sequoya 4340 Tokay Blvd. Goodman South 2222 S. Park St. Central Library 201 W. Mifflin St.

mplfoundation.org

Short Story: Meet Community Partnership Librarian Kelly Grandon Tell us a little about yourself. I grew up in Sterling, Ill., and did my undergrad at UW-Platteville, majoring in Spanish. I spent two semesters studying abroad in Costa Rica in a full-immersion program and lived with host grandparents. I completed my master’s in library science through UW-Milwaukee’s online program. I moved to Madison with my parents in 2009, and my mom, Deb, works at Sequoya. I married my husband, Drew, two-and-a-half years ago. We have two big cats, Taz and Buster. What is your role at Madison Public Library? I started as a Page in 2013 at Goodman South Madison and then became a 60% Library Assistant. I transferred over to Meadowridge to be a 90% Library Assistant and immediately fell in love with that library. I became the Community Partnership Librarian last year. I’m responsible for schedules, adult programming, and generally just helping to keep everything on track. What are your favorite parts of your job? I love our neighborhood kids and teens. It makes me so happy that I get to see them every day and really get to know them — they are the funniest, smartest and most generous kiddos around. There’s such a wonderful sense of community here. We really get to be a neighbor of the neighborhood — seeing the same people regularly and developing relationships. What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work? I’m a vegetarian and am learning to love to cook, experimenting with our CSA produce and my sometimes-successful container garden (this year: not successful). I just started sewing and am becoming less afraid of the machine. I also love to travel — I went to Amsterdam often with my dad growing up, have cruised throughout the Caribbean and most recently went to Hawaii. What is your favorite book? I’d say right now at this very moment, it’s Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I was also fascinated by The Wave by Susan Casey. What are two items on your bucket list? 1. Go back to Central America and wind my way through all the countries. 2. I have always wanted to adopt children when we begin to build our family.

The festival, which moved to a year-round programming format two years ago but kept its popular October festival weekend, drew 15,589 people to 106 events throughout 2016. Be sure to check the festival website at wisconsinbookfestival.org for upcoming events.

Save the date for next year’s festival, November 2–5.

201 W. Mifflin Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 608.266.6318 mplfoundation.org info@mplfoundation.org

Newsletter Design Georgia Rucker

Madison, WI 53703

Library Friends Groups Active Throughout City By Liz Berger Though the summer months are behind us, that hasn’t stopped Madison Public Library’s Friends groups from staying busy. The past few months have been jam-packed with Friends-sponsored activities for the whole family. The Friends of Hawthorne Library sponsored the Hawthorne Hootenanny in mid-November, and the event was a tremendous success. More than 850 people stopped by over the course of the day to partake in activities ranging from music performances to a poetry slam. Snacks were available for both children and adults. The group was happy to sponsor this annual neighborhood event for the third year. Lakeview Library hosted LakeviewPalooza in early October, sponsored by the Friends of Lakeview Library. The event featured a drumming circle and an opportunity to participate in the popular Read to a Dog event. The new Willy Street Co-op North provided snacks for guests. In the coming months, the Friends of Lakeview Library will also contribute money to the Lakeview Library Improvement Project to fund the final phase of the plan. The Friends of Goodman South Madison Library group has been working diligently to support its library. In August, it funded additional materials in support of the library’s Urban Fiction Collection. Goodman South Madison Library also partnered with Playtime Productions Children’s Theatre to host a performance for the production of If the Shoe Fits … A Cinderella Story, bringing the free-admission play to the south Madison neighborhood in November.

Hawthorne Hootenanny activities kept patrons busy.

The libraries greatly benefited from serving as voting sites because 41 percent more library cards (2.463) were issued this fall, compared with fall 2015 (1,745). By serving as a place for civic engagement, it is hoped that those who cast their vote or picked up a ballot will discover all that Madison Public Library has to offer the community.

nine of the 14 absentee voting sites. Sequoya Library was the busiest of the nine libraries, with 8,123 people casting ballots there. The library also trained 120 staff members in voter registration and absentee ballot procedures.

Early Voting Exposes Residents to Libraries Madison Public Library played a vital role in the 2016 general election by assisting the City Clerk’s Office with voter registration and early voting. Nearly 40,500 Madisonians cast their absentee ballot at a library to avoid long Election Day lines; that’s 72 percent of all in-person absentee votes. And for some of these residents, it was their first visit to their neighborhood library, which resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of library cards issued. The City Clerk’s Office distributed an estimated 65,680 ballots, with 62,000 returned to be counted. Madison libraries comprised

A newsletter from Madison Public Library Foundation

Organization U.S. Postage PAID Madison, WI Permit No. 1110

LIBRARY NEWS

Meet the Library Takeover Teams

Alliant Energy Foundation Funds STEM Kits for Kids

Support Libraries With Holiday Gift Purchases

Photo by Shanna Wolf/S. Photography & Styling

FOUNDATION NEWS

Three Teams Selected for Library Takeover An $18,000 Madison Public Library Foundation grant is allowing the library to hand over the reins to three adult groups that are planning large-scale library events for the whole community to enjoy. Library Takeover is designed to give public groups an ability to “take over” the library by providing space, time, and resources for community members to host their own events, helping to set the stage for future library programming that involves and reflects all of Madison. Each group went through a six-week boot camp and received expert guidance from individuals who plan large events.

Neighborhood Libraries’ Endowments Use $43,968 for Upgrades

Five New Members Join Foundation Board of Directors

All nine Madison Public Library locations have endowment funds that provide support for collections, programs, services and operating costs. Each year, the libraries request to use fund dollars to meet various library needs and wants.

Lakeview Library, $9,697 for teen collection titles, and a big-screen TV and stand for public programming

Madison Public Library Foundation’s Board of Directors has five new members who began serving in October.

Meadowridge Library, $3,255 for a new librarian workspace

Heather Clefisch is Vice President and Division General Counsel at Spectrum Brands, Inc. She lives on the near east side of Madison with her husband and two elementary school-aged children. “I am very excited to be joining the foundation Board of Directors in order to help support the fantastic array of programs and services in our communities,” she said. “Reading and libraries open minds and hearts, and I hope we can encourage more of that in the coming years.”

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the foundation approved the spending of $43,968 in endowment funding throughout 2016 to be used for the following purposes:

Central Library, $1,041 for business programming Goodman South Madison Library, $7,413 for new shelving, Urban Fiction/Street Lit collection, book carts, job/career/resume materials and Memoir Writers Salon Hawthorne Library, $800 to replace furniture for the children and teen areas

The three teams chosen to plan events are: Celebrating Contributions of Indian American Immigrants in Greater Madison. This group of Indian immigrants and Indian American women are planning a weeklong display of posters detailing the educational, medical, cultural, business and civic impact that the Indian American community has had on the greater Madison area, culminating in a daylong celebration of the sights, sounds, and tastes of India. A Citywide Writers’ Convention. This team, comprised of Madison writers and poets, will present a gathering of writers, poets and literary organizations, with the goal of bringing writing to the community, and the community to writing.

Monroe Street Library, $876 for children’s programming Judy P. Olson Book Club Kits, $619 to purchase books for Book Club Kits

The Indian American immigrants team brainstorms for its event.

Creating Safe(r), More Accessible Spaces in Madison’s Nightlife. The group behind this idea is planning a party created by and for individuals with marginalized identities, such as queer and trans people, people with disabilities, people of color, and people with addictions. Interactive workshops will allow individuals from marginalized communities to contribute to the planning process.

Mohaupt Fund, Sequoya, $4,087 for children’s collection materials

Pinney Library, $792 for adjustable children’s and teen work tables

Children prepare snacks under guidance in the Meadowridge community kitchen.

Library Takeover Coordinator and Community Engagement Librarian Laura Damon-Moore said she’s looking forward to the events that come out of Library Takeover because “it really is a chance for the Madison community — particularly parts of the community that have been historically underrepresented — to not only see events and initiatives that are supported by the library, but truly planned and facilitated by people from and of these underrepresented groups. We are really grateful to Madison Public Library Foundation for recognizing the potential of this program.”

Sequoya Library, $10,658 for children’s lounge area furniture, book carts, laptops and a laptop charging cart for public computing and programming Print Books Purchase Fund, $4,730 for books for all ages and locations Thank you to all of our donors who understand the importance of endowment funding and made a contribution to one of the funds this year that support our neighborhood libraries.

Christopher Hughes is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, right next door to Central Library. “Many of our staff and attorneys visit the library over the lunch hour, so it is nice to be in a position that supports them by helping to ensure they have access to a world-class library,” he said. “I grew up hanging around libraries, as did my kids, so it seems natural for that trend to continue.”

Shannon Henry Kleiber is a writer and author. The former Washington Post staff writer and columnist is the author of two nonfiction books. Kleiber is also a Girl Scout troop leader, a Breathe For Change certified yoga instructor, and the parent of two girls who also love libraries. “I have long loved libraries, books, paragraphs, sentences and words, and I’m grateful to help support the strong sense of comunity and connection the Madison Public Library offers,” she said. Rajesh Rajaraman is a Vice President at Christensen Associates, an applied economic and engineering consulting firm in Madison. He also serves on the board of the United Way of Dane County, where he is partnering with others to find solutions to the homelessness problem in the community. Rajaraman and his wife, Deepika, are longtime Madison residents. They have two sons, Amol and Amit. “Our family interest in libraries stems from a passionate interest in reading books, newspapers and magazines,” he said.

Pinney Library Campaign Funds Grow

Alliant Energy Foundation Funds Youth STEM Kits

Look to Your Library for Useful Holiday Gifts

Madison Public Library Foundation’s Capital Campaign for a New Pinney Library is making substantial progress, with $1.02 million of its $2.5 million goal raised so far.

An Alliant Energy Foundation gift of nearly $5,000 is helping low-income preschool-aged kids gain valuable science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

By Liz Berger

Barrymore Benefit Concert a Success: More than 400 people attended We Gotta Get Out of This Place on September 30 featuring Sean Michael Dargan and the Back in the World Band, and Madison authors Doug Bradley and Craig Werner. The event — which raised $16,000 — relived the historic soundtrack of the Vietnam War, with readings from veterans and the authors. A VIP reception sponsored by Monona State Bank and held in its lobby preceded the concert. Stoughton Road Revitalization Project Gift Puts Fundraising Total over $1M mark: When the Stoughton Road Revitalization Project (SRRP) board decided to officially disband this year — having met its goal of creating a vision for traffic, design and commerce along Stoughton Road between U.S. Highways 12/18 and Wisconsin Highway 30 — its members voted unanimously to donate the remainder of its funds to Madison Public Library Foundation in support of the Pinney Library capital campaign. For all eight neighborhoods that make up SRRP (Eastmorland, East Buckeye, Elvehjem, Glendale, Heritage Heights, Hiestand, Lake Edge and Rolling Meadows), “Pinney is our beloved library,” said SRRP Secretary Tonya Hamilton-Nisbet. “We were particularly elated when

we delivered the check for $10,838.01 from our account to foundation Executive Director Jenni Collins in late October, and she informed us that our donation officially put the campaign over the $1 million fundraising mark! We encourage others to donate and look forward to experiencing the new Pinney Library.” SRRP Secretary Tonya

Give Back on Giving Tuesday Hamilton-Nesbit presents Jenni Collins Raises $9,233 in a Day: For the with a $10,838.01 second year in a row, the foundation check for the new hosted a Giving Tuesday event at the Pinney Library. Harmony Bar & Grill on November 29 — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday that urges charitable donations during the holiday giving season — to encourage gifts to the new Pinney Library. The family-friendly happy hour party included live music by local band THE MUGS, and each donation doubled thanks to a $10,000 matching gift from the Friends of Sequoya Library. To get involved with the Pinney capital campaign, visit mplfoundation.org/pinney.

WonderWorks, a program that the library started in 2012, provides STEM education to the early childhood population at a time when the brain is particularly receptive to learning math and logic. The Alliant Energy Foundation gift will fund the hands-on STEM stations component of the program, which also includes a book and home-based activities. WonderWorks originally targeted daycare centers, but it has since expanded to other early childhood programs that serve predominantly low-income children. Bilingual kits are also in development to serve Spanish-speaking children and their care providers. Students in the U.S. tend to lag behind other developed countries in STEM performance, and the gap is even wider for youth in low-income homes. STEM activities early in life prepare students for successful STEM careers while also enhancing the experience of preschool teachers and daycare providers, who often do not get STEM training through traditional licensing programs. Krissy Wick, Director of Public Services for Madison Public Library, said the kits help children to make observations and predictions, ask questions, expand their vocabulary and gain an increased interest in STEM topics.

STEM is important to Alliant Energy, and kids are curious,” said Alliant Energy Foundation Executive Director Julie Bauer. “So what better way to help support this curiosity but through these great STEM kits? Alliant Energy is proud to support a program that allows kids to explore and experience all that STEM has to offer.” Kit themes that will be funded by the foundation gift include measuring, patterns, maps and mazes, magnetism, air pressure, bridge building, balance, mirrors, pendulums, magnification and more.

Library staff have put together more than a dozen hands-on STEM kits as part of the WonderWorks program.

Tanya Salman is an attorney at the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. The former Friends of the Madison Public Library president recently helped revamp the group’s website and social media presence. She has served on event planning committees for the foundation’s Rock & Read, Lunch for Libraries and Ex Libris fundraisers. “I have always loved libraries,” she said. “When I was growing up in Michigan, my dad and I would go to the library every Sunday and read books. I had my ‘own’ library card at 6 years old! Once I graduated law school and heard the new library was opening up, I knew I had to get involved.”

“Reading and libraries open minds and hearts, and I hope we can encourage more of that in the coming years.” — Heather Clefisch, new member, Madison Public Library Foundation Board Thank you to our departing board members for their service: Rick Chandler, Lau Christensen, Kathleen Woit and Janice Zmrazek.

What do you get for the avid reader who already has a collection of books? Consider buying a gift from Madison Public Library! All nine libraries will be selling giftable items this holiday season. Proceeds from sales support library programs, collections and services. Great for library lovers young and old, Madison Public Library logo-bearing T-shirts are available in all sizes. Children’s sizes range from extra-small to large and sell for $10. Adult sizes range from extra-small to 3XL and sell for $18. For those who are on the go with a heavy load — whether a stack of books or a bundle of groceries — a Madison Public Library bag is a great option. Both drawstring and canvas totes are available. Drawstring bags are available in green or black for just $2, and our full-color logo canvas totes are $8.

Looking for something a little smaller and easy to wrap? 4GB flash drives are also for sale in a variety of colors. For just $6, these pocket-sized items are sure to be a hit for temporary storage of important files and photos. Stop by the help desk at any of the library locations to pick up a great gift for the library lovers in your life! All purchases can be made with cash or a check payable to Madison Public Library.